A minor detail, I know, but I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t call the head massager an “orgasmatron”. There are enough attempts by the media, both advertent and inadvertent, to sexualize ASMR, and we really don’t want newcommers to get the wrong idea. Those who experience ASMR may be able to easily look past the dis-analogy, but for those who don’t, it’s little things like this that make it that much harder.
I’m glad that it’s at least showing up for you occasionally. It certainly seems to affect people differently and it’s an incredibly strange, though wonderful, phenomenon. I don’t pretend to understand it fully myself, and haven’t done research on it other than to check if it’s harmful, which from what I’ve seen doesn’t seem to be an issue. My reactions seem to have gotten more intense lately, sometimes to the point of having to pause the video for a short while in order to calm it down a bit.

It's also not something that affects everyone. Apparently only part of the population "gets" ASMR, just like not everyone "gets" magic-eye pictures or Beyoncé. It could even be a genetic thing for some, like the people who were born with the crossed wires that make them think cilantro tastes like Comet. The actual science on ASMR is scant, and some neurologists aren't sure that it even exists. Those who do think that the tingling feelings produced by ASMR might be tiny seizures. But for those who do experience ASMR, there's a wealth of material out there to give you a brain boner.

I just found out about ASMR and I instantly knew that feeling – now I know that I am not the only one who is experiencing this! the last time it happened was when someone was changing my working computer, sitting in my office chair, installing the hardware and stuff…however it doesn’t work, if someone uses my plates or forks or toilets…it just seems to work, when the person is doing something, that I didn’t do with my objects…hard to describe it – even I can not predict, if this or that would work, it just does it or not…
Although little research exists on the science behind ASMR, some researchers have theorized how it works. Richard, for one, said ASMR triggers could stimulate the "biological pathways" that humans use when bonding with a romantic partner, close friend, or family member, thus eliciting "similar responses like feeling comforted, feeling relaxed, and feeling secure."
Having previously practiced yoga and meditation for over 10 years, I can induce ASMR at will, or "bliss", as it's called in the spiritual community. It's often part of the very first steps on a spiritual journey, though no requirement. These videos didn't induce ASMR in me though, so maybe it's a different sensation than "bliss", or different triggers.
I am a bit curious since I did not seem to have ASMR. I never experienced it in my life but I started listening to ASMR early 2016 with no other reason other than how relaxing it was. But after what must have been at least 6 months I felt what most people describe as the head tingles. I did not experience this feeling again for about another month or two but then I started to get the head tingles at what seems like random times. Some times it is once a week, other times it is once a month. It is still rare but it seems to happen more than initially. I mainly listen to personal attention asmr, tapping, or reiki asmr but no single one regularly triggers it. Am I just getting a “pins and needles” feeling or is this asmr? It is very short and very random if I feel it or not. Not a single “trigger test” I have found has triggered this. Anyone with a similar experience or a possible explanation? The only things I can come up with is that I started cognitively simulating it, It is just pins and needles but the asmr is just relaxing so it feels nice, or a gene was activated due to my repeated listening and research into the topic.

Well. I started getting ASMR or Empathic Enlightenment as I called it, since the late 70’s. At a family gathering in ’79, I spoke with an old hippie Artist, a Painter, a friend of my mothers, who told me it was “Enlightenment”. Empathy for a moment shared he said. He too, was inflicted with the ability, and spoke in a hushed tone about it, Bob Dylans “Hurricane” played in the background, as he told me about the metaphysical and artistic side of life. I never forgot that night, and “Hurricane” is still my favourite song.

I've been aware of the ASMR feeling since about always, but I really thought it was something everyone got. As common as breathing, so it never occurred to me to speak about it until recently when I gave my sister a few links that made me feel these triggers and she felt nothing or was even greatly annoyed... then I came across reading about it and realized, not all people get it. (They're totally missing it, I like it a lot!)

The explanation behind this physiological reaction lies in the brain. "It's likely that the tingling is due to specific neurochemicals (like oxytocin and endorphins) being released during ASMR—and these neurochemicals are also inducing the deep feeling of relaxation," says Craig Richard, PhD, an ASMR researcher, professor at Shenandoah University in Virginia, and author of Brain Tingles. In a 2018 study published by Richard and his colleagues, they found that ASMR activated similar regions of the brain as those activated during affiliate behaviors, which includes interpersonal bonding (such as parent-infant bonding) along with grooming and care-giving behaviors that involve positive personal attention. These behaviors share similar triggers with ASMR, such as gentle touch, soft voices, focused attention, and a bond of trust.

I am 69 female and have gotten a tingling in scalp in certain situations since I was a child. Just love it although it doesn't happen as often as when I was younger. Unfortunately, none of the videos did it for me and I don't ever remember seeing any youtube, etc that did it. Has to be real life. Someone comes to vacuum my office once a week. I get the tinglin feeling every time she's there. Of course, someone combing or styling my hair does it (more likely to happen if it's random and informal vs a haircut at the salon). Or someone giving me instructions and showing me how to do something (a simple, physical task) will trigger it. I try to hold onto it but it is so often too fleeting a sensation.
A: I told my friends there was an ASMR commercial coming, and they thought it was funny. My friends are super supportive and tease me in a very sweet way. When it came on, they start screaming, “I’m tingling!” And everyone’s just screaming and like, “No way, this is crazy. I can’t believe this is on TV right now.” I had like 20 pairs of eyes turn and stare at me.
Thanks for your comments Elysium. I used the term orgasmatron simply because this is the name by which I’ve always known those massagers. I didn’t make up the word, i believe it was a brand name that they were originally available under, perhaps that was just in Australia. But I understand your point. I’m planning a page outlining this issue, so I’ll be sure to include that link and clarify the text when that is ready.
The first time I remember ASMR I was in pre-school and a girl who was normally not nice to me was kind to me. I think she tied my shoes for me. To this day, this is the strongest trigger. My Twitter name (I am the mom over our geeky pack) is a clue to why this did not happen all the time. I was not popular though well liked in my group of uncool kids. So when the popular kids or someone I held in high regard (teacher, etc) gave me attention that was above and beyond, my whole head would tingle.

<3 I heard about ASMR a few months ago, and was amazed to learn that only a certain group of people got the head tingles hehe. Whenever I was younger, I would always make my mom braid my hair or brush it, because it would always give me the best shivers. Same with getting a haircut, or going for a doctors appointment. I always assumed it was normal to have those sensations, and that everybody got them. Turns out I was wrong!

I am in my early 30’s and have experienced this feeling since I was very young. I never understood it, but always loved it. It was my “special feeling” I’ve only just looked it up online and found this. You sum it up so well. I love make up tutorials on youtube, where they are talking to you but working with their hands and sometimes it’s the “click” of something…like when they are putting things away but not rushing….its that sound that also brings it out in me. I have it at work quite often, when someone is showing me something and its the click of the pen, or the keyboard that sets it off. It’s an amazing feeling and I love having it, never ever thought it was a “real” thing!

I’m a prematurely retired, disabled, UCLA med school trained pediatrician, due to a stroke and for me ASMR occurs only with music, but just what I call exquisite(level) music. Interestingly before my love for science, my first love was music, as an alto, tenor, and baritone sax player as a child. My experience is that it always is full body, at the onset, and sometimes is accompanied by a slight body warmth effect. It is always a very pleasant sensation, and does not always occur with these level of songs. Not maybe related, but I’ve become a sensation at party type celebrations, as people are amazed at my dancing skills without my quad cane, without much use of my limited right side of my body. They look at me in a crazed way when I tell them I really don’t consider it dancing, in the strictest sense, but it’s like the music and I are symbiotic, and I become the music so that my body just starts spontaneously moving in such a way they would not believe possible, with much improved balance, as people start to hoot, holler, clap and recording with their smart phones. I’m not putting on a show, just enjoying music at the highest level I know. I have always loved music intensely. Initially, I did what I call chair dancing, all upper body, for quite some time, after my stroke.
Incidentally, I’m now wondering if my embarrassing tendency to well up at almost any expression of art or culture (meaning that I’ve had to perfect a whole range of distraction techniques to prevent my neighbours on the sofa/gallery/theatre/cinema from realising I’m silently blubbing away) is part of this phenomenon. Even a well placed advert, I’m ashamed to say, can set me off. It didn’t occur to me until I found out about the Tingles (sorry, hate the scientised term ASMR) that the tear jerk response might be related to my other sensations. Any thoughts on that, anyone?
So. I found out about this roughly… an hour ago. And holy… what an hour it’s been. I didn’t even know I could feel this type of stuff (although for most it seems to be in their head/scalp/neck etc, for me, it’s in my chest.). My biggest trigger seem to be taps… from the crisp tap to a low thump. One thing I am noticing though, is how many girls do the videos (I can understand this, as a female voice generally has a more relaxing effect.) but I was wondering how many people prefer a male voice? Any preference to accents, etc.
In the middle of the ASMR spectrum I have all sorts of triggers. A deep male voice reading Holy Scriptures. Definitely not as spiritual a response as the Cantor, but still pleasant, even so. A favorite trigger is good music, either played or sung. Usually it’s a voice that does it for me, more so than instruments. Depending on the type of song, lyrics and the melody/drums, music can trigger a wide range of ASMR types for me. Some are very much at the spiritual end, while others bring back the memory of ASMR events, and the memory itself triggers a mild repeat. Really good foods (eating or even smelling them) can trigger tingles in head and shoulders; while a head, back or foot massage can all be triggers, depending on the skill of the person.
Anyway, I have no problem sleeping, ever. I usually have a problem getting to bed, because I fall asleep wherever I’m sitting. My big problem is being intimate. If I’m in the middle of business, and I start thinking about my girlfriend’s body touching parts of the right side of my body, I start getting severe tickles and I’ve tossed her to the side because it’s too much for me. It’s one of those things where you tell yourself not to think about it, but it makes you think about it more. My right knee is the worst part. Anyone comes near that knee, not even touching it – they could just sit next to me, and if their leg touches my knee occasionally – I get tickle fits.
Austrian writer Clemens J. Setz suggests that a passage from the novel Mrs. Dalloway authored by Virginia Woolf and published in 1925, describes something distinctly comparable.[25][26] In the passage from Mrs. Dalloway cited by Setz, a nursemaid speaks to the man who is her patient 'deeply, softly, like a mellow organ, but with a roughness in her voice like a grasshopper's, which rasped his spine deliciously and sent running up into his brain waves of sound'.[27]